Soaked
by Eliza4892
Summary: Post Season 3 finale, small spoilers. Sort of crack!fic The problem with having time off was that they didn't really know what to do with it. AlexIzzie.
1. Chapter 1

Time off. It was a rarity for doctors, interns especially. But they had it, five days of it to be exact, and while he wasn't exactly sure why, he'd be damned if he said a word. They weren't interns anymore anyway, he had to remind himself.

The problem with never having time off though, he thought, was that once you had it you didn't really know what to do with it.

Which is why, on his first day of not waking up to an alarm clock in what felt like months, he found himself seated across from Meredith, who absentmindedly glanced through the newspaper, bowl of cereal in front of him, with no idea what he was going to do with himself for the rest of the day.

"It's weird, I know." Meredith said, not looking up, but apparently still able to read his mind. Or his silence. "We can complain about waking up at the crack of dawn every day and when we finally don't have to then we don't know what to do with ourselves. We have no lives outside of the hospital. It's sad."

"Are you still drunk from last night?" He retorted. He hadn't heard her come in until well into the early morning hours, and as far as he knew she was helping Cristina cope by alcohol. "You're awfully insightful."

"I can be sober and insightful." She shot back, sipping her coffee. "Cristina just got me all reflective last night, you know, thinking about the 'what if's'. And what if we weren't doctors? What would our lives be like then?"

"Well I wouldn't be sitting here wondering how I'm going to occupy myself for the next five days without staying here all day and risking drowning myself in estrogen."

"Exactly." She said, like he'd proven her point, which he kind of had but hadn't really meant to. Then, after processing the rest of his words, she added. "And your life would be boring without us."

"Meredith," Izzie's voice sounded far away, as she called into the kitchen. "Do you actually own a hose?"

Alex looked at Meredith, just as she raised her eyes from the newspaper, looking like she knew what was coming. "I think I'd prefer boring."

"Shut it," she replied, though a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth, and she turned in her seat to shout back, "Define hose."

"Thing you squirt water from." Something fell in the closet. This was getting more interesting by the second.

"There's a shed in the back, my dad used to keep stuff like that in there. Nobody's been in there for years, but I think the keys are –"

Izzie cut her off with a triumphant "Found them" and they both heard the front screen door snap shut against the frame.

"What the hell is she doing?" Alex asked, a little concerned.

"How would I know?" Meredith shrugged, went back to her paper. "I thought she was talking about pantyhose for a minute there."

When she didn't come back inside with anymore random questions he let it go and went back to his breakfast. Five minutes later, he heard a noise that sounded like a cross between a squeal, and a shriek, followed by the sound of water hitting something that might be plastic.

They both looked at each other again. "Should I go out there or do you want to?" Meredith began.

"I'll take it," he replied, rising and heading out the front door.

Izzie was in the driveway, in a t-shirt and shorts, barefoot, with a sponge in one hand. When she saw him she flushed crimson, slightly embaressed.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking at her, then looking at the car in front of her and answering his own question.

"Washing the car," she said it like it was the most obvious thing for her to be doing.

Alex laughed, thinking that never in a million years would he have pictured Izzie Stevens, ex-model and baker extraordinaire, standing in the driveway, washing a car. "There are places you can go to have that done you know."

"It's a nice day. I mean for once it's sunny and warm. This is Seattle, how often does that happen?" She had a point. Yes, the weather was nice. He still wasn't sure how she'd gotten from that to car wash.

"You don't seem like someone who would enjoy washing cars." He told her.

"Okay first of all the thing is practically encrusted with bird shit." She started, wrinkling her nose, which only made him want to laugh again. "And secondly this wouldn't be the first time I've done this."

"So, some modeling agent, what, had you prance around in a skimpy bikini, all lathered up while they took pictures of you for some photoshoot. I don't think that counts." He thought of every cliché movie that had done something along those lines. "Although I wouldn't exactly mind seeing a reenactment of that."

She pelted him with a spare, thankfully un-soapy, sponge. "In your dreams pervert." He almost made a comment to that, but it would've been too easy. "And I was talking about school car washes. You know to raise money."

He frowned, "Isn't that just for the band geeks?"

Izzie rolled her eyes. "No more like raising money so we could have a decent prom." She surprised herself that she could even say that word without a tinge of sadness. "You were on the wrestling team right? Didn't you guys do stuff like that to pay for like equipment fees?"

"I think that was the baseball team." He responded, unsure. High school seemed so far away. He hadn't really been there for the whole team aspect. He was there to learn moves, tricks, a way to get rid of his father, a way to take out his anger.

For a moment she looked absolutely exhausted with him. "That is not the point. The point is that I'm bored, it's a nice day, and it reminds me of my childhood which beats sitting around thinking about how screwed up my life is now."

Alex put his hands up in surrender, backing away slowly in mock fear, and Izzie simply picked up the hose that had been sprawled along the driveway and proceeded to soak him before it'd even registered with him what she was doing. He dodged her, and she made no effort to follow him, just let her finger fall off the trigger of the sprayer, a guilty little smile finding its way onto her face at her sudden childishness. It sure as hell felt good.

"What the hell was that for?" He yelled, standing in his soaked clothes, and looking more than a little perturbed. He would get it over it, the sun would dry him.

"It's for you acting like an ass." She informed him, ducking her head so he couldn't see her very nearly giggle as she fought to keep her voice just on the edge of irritation.

Too late. "You think this is funny?" He was trying to sound more threatening and serious than he actually was, and she nodded.

When he started forward, she picked up the hose again.

Back inside, Meredith listened to shrieks coming from the front yard, faintly hearing their voices taunting each other, and she had half a mind to toss some towels out there so they didn't track water in and mess up the carpet, but figured that was too mother-bear for her, and who was she to ruin their fun. Something told her it was going to be awhile before either of them came in anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

What Izzie didn't count on was him being as quick as he was. And apparently unfazed by water when he set his mind to it, contrary to his earlier display of running away to avoid it. One minute she was in control, attempting to spray him right in the face in hopes that he would back up, and then the next her feet were no longer touching the ground, and the hose lay were she used to stand. She'd lost her grip on it due to the unexpected sensation of, you know, being picked up like a rag doll. No, she did not appreciate the rush of blood to her head that came with being thrown over his shoulder.

He was laughing, a sound that she usually gravitated between loving and hating depending on the situation. This was a hate type of situation. "Very funny. You win, okay." He didn't stop laughing, nor did he put her down. "No, seriously, Alex, put me down."

"I don't think so actually." He replied, and she could practically feel the smirk he was giving her.

"That was not a question, that was a command. Now put me down." She pushed against him once, but he didn't move, he didn't even loosen his grasp on her.

"Remind me again, which one of us is standing and which one of us is currently this close to being dropped on their head?" Alex sure was a cocky son-of-a-bitch when he wanted to be.

Somehow, and even she wasn't sure how, she managed to maneuver herself so she was no longer upside down, and instead able to look at him, arms braced on his shoulders, legs on his waist so that she didn't fall forward. She wanted down, but she didn't want to fall on her ass. He struggled with her for a moment but miraculously they were still upright, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Not about to be dropped on my head now am I?"

Yeah, there was the smirk again. "Someone's flexible."

Izzie shoved him again, which, as it turned out, was a very, very bad idea, because this time he didn't remain balanced. This time he went backwards and ended up laid out flat on the hood of the car, which was probably a much better alternative to the ground for both of them because it wasn't so far to fall.

"Ow, jeez." One hand came off of her waist to reach up to his head.

She bit her bottom lip, trying not to laugh. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He muttered, sounding more annoyed than she knew he really was. "Nice moves there. Were you trying to injure us both?"

"I asked you nicely the first time and you didn't listen so this is what you get." She replied. Izzie realized that she could technically get up now, he wasn't holding her to him anymore, and this was a little (okay, a lot) closer to him than she'd been in a few months, but strangely she wasn't even thinking about moving.

"Well maybe next time you won't decide to hose me down like a dog."

"Water is not the problem right now. You do realize you are lying on a soapy car, and when that stuff dries it's kind of sticky. Might want to change." She pointed out, the warm sun on her bare arms serving as a reminder of that.

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that a proposition?"

She intentionally pressed down into his ribs, passing it off as just readjusting herself. She was pretty much straddling him at this point. "Oh, please, I've seen it all before, and it wasn't that interesting the first time."

Alex seemed to instinctually take that as a lie, which it was more or less. "You know you want me."

It was a joking tone. If he had been serious she probably would've reminded him, yet again, that she wasn't ready, or that this was over, or something else that would put a wall between them. So, of course, since he was joking, she found herself kissing him. You know, just to keep him on his toes. Yeah, right.

When she broke it off, which was sooner than she would've liked, but later than she thought she would've, and pulled back, he gave her this look that was half confused, half content. But he didn't say a word, apparently waiting for her, probably to explain that away.

Instead, she told him, "You really probably should change unless you plan on helping me. And take something because your head is going to hurt in a few hours."

"It was worth it." He didn't smirk this time. No, this time he smiled, and she thought that those kind of smiles were usually only directed at her, and she really didn't know what that meant, or how she felt about that anymore.

Alex made a move to get up, and she slid off of him, feet back on the ground. He went back inside without a word, and she knew that was probably her own fault. She'd spent so much time pushing him away, telling that she wasn't ready, that she needed space, and he had finally learned to listen to her. Right when she wished he hadn't. But at the same time, things had changed. She wasn't sure quite how yet, she just knew they had. Maybe it was a shift in the air, or a lack of tension and restraint in the way that they touched. Something was different.

In a way this break that they had reminded her of summer break from school. A time when people de-stressed, forgot the past, and started over again. Maybe, as stupid and cliché as it sounded, this was a kind of new beginning.

She liked to think it was.


End file.
